


let me say that everything’ll be okay. and then, won’t you let me blame it all on you later?

by helpwhatshappeninguh



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Attempted Murder, Death, Dream Smp, Emotional Manipulation, Exiled TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Gaslighting, Murder, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, TommyInnit-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Villain Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Villain Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Villain Tommyinnit (Video Blogging RPF), god this got so dark, oopsies, what in the world am i doing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:48:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 15,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28211889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helpwhatshappeninguh/pseuds/helpwhatshappeninguh
Summary: Accidentally befriending his captor was a mistake Tommy had not seen himself making.But now, that his captor had shown his true colors, he was free, free to get everything back.(Was he really, though?)(please check the tags, i don't want to hurt anyone)(currently on pause until i feel like finishing it)
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 30
Kudos: 359





	1. one

As he stared at the ruins that once was Logstedshire, Tommy wondered when everyone had forgotten about him.

He’d also been used to being around everyone; being involved in everything, (whether that was a good or a bad thing, was up to question.) He’d been involved in all of the conflicts that the world has faced; from the brutal pet wars, the never-ending disc wars, to the revolution that had started this all. Every time, he’d had someone by his side, friends or former foes alike.

But since his exile, it had felt like he’d been abandoned. At first it hadn’t been so bad; Fundy, Ranboo and Ghostbur had come to see him, and although Ghostbur never could measure up to Alivebur, Fundy was slightly familiar, as an enemy and a foe. Ranboo was new; Tommy couldn’t bring himself to hold a grudge against the half-enderman who’d been dragged into his chaos.

Puffy wrote signs on his walls, and Bad had even given him gifts (gifts that he had insulted and called pity gifts out of pure surprise that anyone had given him anything.) 

But soon, that stopped too- Ghostbur seemed to vanish altogether and Fundy and Ranboo joined him, apparently. Even Dream’s visits had become slightly less frequent, something that came slightly surprising to Tommy. 

Dream had always been there; Tommy had even felt himself begun to like the masked man; it made him feel so unbelievably stupid.

Dream didn’t care about him.

Dream cared about nothing other than power.

Dream never cared about anything but that.

Tommy hated himself that he had begun to believe that Dream was his friend.

He didn’t even want to admit that he was hurt that Dream wasn’t.

But that didn’t matter anymore, Tommy thought. He knew Dream was bad. Dream was not his friend. 

Tommy wished he had realized this sooner. He had almost, barely coming to terms and beginning to build his base. He had his genius plan to build up supplies, kill the stupid green bastard, and go back and be friends with everyone. (after they apologized, of course.)

That plan was subsequently abandoned after Logstedshire was blown up by said stupid green bastard, Tommy thought bitterly.

Tommy stood now, staring at the charred remains at what could have been his only hope. His shoulders slumped and his stomach churned.

He frowned. He knew he had to go on. Build himself back up, strike back up against Dream.

But how?

He had next to no allies; the few he did have resided in a land he couldn’t even enter. If he tried, Dream would kill him. 

That wasn’t going to happen. Tommy wouldn’t let him.

If he died, it would be of his own volition. 

He was sure of it. 

But that didn’t exactly help him.

Tommy was lost. Confused. 

What’s next?

He hasn’t even been freed. He hasn’t defeated any tyrannical kings.

A faint smile etches its way onto his face at his stupid Hamilton reference.

They’re so much like the musical, aren’t they?

It feels odd almost, comparing a musical to the painfully real troubles they had faced. Yet, he couldn't; help but wonder, was he Alexander? 

Was Wilbur Burr, the man who had started off as his friend only to devolve into an enemy?

Or was that Tubbo?

Tommy urges himself not to think about that.

Instead, he crawls out of the small pond he’d landed in after jumping off the cadillac.

He couldn’t die yet. He wasn’t done yet. Sure, he’d endured scratches and thinking of everything that had happened hurt but he hadn’t been shot in the stomach yet.

He needed to go on. Even if he was angry with everyone; with Dream for being himself, with Techno for betraying them, With Wilbur for becoming whatever Wilbur had become, and everyone else for forgetting about him. But he knew he could fix all this. 

He was Tommyinnit. Of course he could. 

Casting one last look over his shoulder at the now silent and charred Logstedshire, Tommy marched on with nothing but a boat, remains of the deceased, and a log.


	2. two

Tommy couldn’t feel his hands.

After running away from the remains that had once been his home, he’d had absolutely no idea where he could go. He was still banned from L’Manburg, and the nether portal was broken. But then, he’d had an idea.

Technoblade’s house.

In retrospect, it had seemed like a good idea, if only because that was his only option. He’d trudged in the direction he hoped it was, already cold from the night chill.

The snow biome had only served to make it worse; the snow never seemed to stop falling, wrapping everything in a layer of white. It was hard to see, hard to feel anything other than a numbing cold.

Luckily, he’d had the hindsight to take Wilbur’s coat with him. It didn’t feel right at all; the heavy fabric only served to feel like the ghost of a man was still there, still whispering hateful things into his ears.

He tried his hardest to ignore them however; knowing that without it, he’d likely had to have keeled over sooner. He pulled the sleeves over his hands more as he trudged through the snow.

His foot was completely numb, having lost his shoe so long ago that even he had no idea. It almost felt like it wasn’t even there anymore; just a useless limb simply following the formation it had been for hours.

Tommy almost wanted to cry. He would have, if he wasn’t such a big man.

He tried to tell himself that.

Is that what everyone had wanted? When they exiled him, watched him and Ghostbur get sent off by Dream, had they hoped this would happen? 

No, Tommy thought to himself. He couldn’t.. He couldn't think like that. Tubbo was his friend. He had been since the start, and would always be. 

But then why would he do this to me?

Tommy bit his lip. He really hated his super cool brain for some of the dumb thoughts it produced, sometimes. 

He sighed, gripping on harder to the Prime Log as he continued to walk. 

It felt like he was walking forever in a loop. His foot never changed, only feeling constantly numb. His fingers had begun to lose feeling, and he couldn’t stop shivering. Every step he took forward seemed to not make a difference, simply exposing him to more and more snow.

It felt hopeless. 

He didn’t know what to do. Tommy collapsed, falling into the soft snow.

Would.. would it be so bad, just to stay here, if only for a little bit..? Curling up on the ground felt so much better than walking hopelessly through the snow. Tommy felt exhaustion creeping up on him, until..

He cringed. He couldn’t fall asleep here. 

He didn’t know if he’d wake up again.

Gritting his teeth, Tommy scrunched his face up as he pulled himself up from the icy ground. He inhaled sharply, shivering worsening as he tried to look around for anything, a sign that he wasn’t already dead.

That was when he saw it.

A soft light. 

It was faint; barely noticeable unless you really looked. But it was undeniably there, a soft glow emulating against the white snow. 

Fingers numb, he pulled his communicator out from his pocket, nearly dropped it twice. He barely managed to open it and look for the members list, shaking from an odd mix of cold and excitement.

Technoblade was not in the Dream Smp territory right now.

Tommy grinned, determination filling his bones with a warmth and strength to go on. 

Things were finally starting to look up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shortish chapter, i think? I'm working on three right now, it'll hopefully be done by later tonight.
> 
> thank you for reading!!


	3. three

Tommy decided that decided that, despite being two of the best fighters alive, Dream and Technoblade were pretty stupid.

Seriously, Techno had left his door unlocked, allowing Tommy to enter easily. Techno’s horse had looked at him strangely and he’d been scared shitless by the plethora of zombie villagers growling, but otherwise he’d walked in easily.

Tommy walked past the villagers, staring curiously at the chests. There was a bunch, so Techno had to have at least some good stuff, right? 

Tommy opened a chest, and his eyes lit up.

“Holy shit!” He exclaimed gleefully, opening several others as he looked at all the items. Techno had a shit load of potions, those would probably be useful. 

Feeling practically unable to grasp the fact that he was staring at all of this loot, Tommy took out a potion and chugged it. He couldn’t help his laugh as he looked through the rest of the chests, maybe sort of kind of taking a lot of other items.

Once he was done with that, Tommy turned towards the ladder, climbing up to the main floor. He nearly screamed when he saw the enderman, only pausing himself when he realized it was stuck in a boat.

He immediately went to the chest beside it, opening it and looking in. He couldn’t help his grin as he looked at all of the ender pearls, golden apples, and diamond tools, taking anything he wanted. 

Tommy stepped out onto the stairs outside once he was done. He looked around at the snowy landscape, wondering why the hell he hadn’t come here sooner. This was great!

Except for the fact that he had nowhere to live. Oops.

Tommy frowned, idly attacking two zombies with his axe while he thought. He couldn’t live anywhere near here, he didn’t know if Techno was on his side.

Or rather, he knew he wasn’t. Technoblade would definitely kill him if he saw Tommy in his house. Not to mention if he learned Tommy stealing from him. 

That would be a very awkward conversation that Tommy was not hoping to have.

He frowned, walking back into the house, shutting the doors behind him. He climbed up the ladder, looking at the top floor.

Tommy saw a bell, and naturally, immediately rung it. His face quickly turned into a scowl as he read the sign beside it; “CHANNEL MEMBER BELL.” 

Tommy scoffed, removing the sign. What idiot streamed on youtube? Twitch primes were so much better.

He went back to idly ringing the bell, trying to think of what he could do. He frowned. He could live here, couldn’t he? Techno was fucking loaded. But where? He needed to be somewhere Techno couldn't see him.. but where was that?

Climbing back down the ladder twice, he stared at the basement floor, taking out his pickaxe. He dug into the stone below him, wincing as he fell onto the ground. He looked around the real basement, ignoring the weird mobs stuck in glass and the cow that just kinda stared.

He dug down another block, grinning when he realized there wasn’t anything there. Tommy dug down further, taking out his shovel to get rid of the dirt. He grinned.

Living under your enemy’s basement while stealing from said enemy to take down an even bigger enemy wasn’t exactly ideal, but hey..

The ends justify the means, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shorter chapter, oopsies
> 
> i ignored my science classwork for this
> 
> is it obvious that im like literally terrible with dialogue oh my god
> 
> unless it's crack i fail miserably
> 
> thank you for reading!!!


	4. four

Tommy kicked his feet around idly on his bed on the piss hole. He was extremely bored. He sighed, sitting up and climbing out, placing the stone back over the hole. Tommy climbed up the ladders again, appearing outside. 

Just as he was about to close the doors behind him, he felt his communicator buzz. He took it out of his pocket, sliding to open the device before looking at the chat.

_ wilbursoot: hello tommy!  _

Tommy blinked in surprise. Ghostbur was back? He hadn’t seen the ghost in a while. 

Just as he was about to type a greeting back, he saw a message that made him choke in surprise.

_ wilbursoot: lets deal drugs! _

Tommy had never felt his hands move faster than they did in that moment to join the call.

“Hello! Hey! (incomprehensible demonic noises)!” Tommy shouted cheerfully. 

“Hello tommy! How's it going?” Ghostbur replied, his voice echoey but still as soft as ever. Tommy frowned, still walking in the snow. He’d forgotten to steal boots from Technoblade. His feet were starting to go numb again.

“..Ghostbur, where have you been.. hey, uh- i- look at me! I’ve got me pep in me step back! ..even though i’ve lost my shoes..” Tommy frowned, brain going a million miles an hour as he walked back into Techno’s house to steal some shoes. 

“Where are you?” Ghostbur questioned.

“Uh..” Tommy mumbled. Did ghostbur know where Techno’s house was? Could he even tell the ghost?

“I’m in l’manburg! I’m in l’manburg tommy! WAIT! Oh.. you can't come to l’manburg and I can't come outside because of the rain  _ it’s dramatic irony it’s dramatic irony philza minecraft! _ **”**

Tommy scowled at the reminder of his exile and Philza laughed. Tommy kinda sorta forgot he was there.

“Why has he gone all literacy-e? He reminds me of english.. I hate it, phil.” Tommy grumbled. Thinking of english made him think of english majors. English majors were stupid.

“Oh! Tommy- it's- i have wonderful news, Tommy!” Ghostbur began again, sounding excited, as per usual. Tommy blinked. “Oh, yeah?”

“Okay, so! Oh, how was your beach party, by the way?”

Tommy felt his heart sink. Did Ghostbur seriously just ask him that?

**“** Are you joking..? Wilbur, I've only just gotten away from my.. from my.. ‘friend.’” Tommy huffed, making air quotations with his hands even though they couldn't see him. He huffed again, shuffling through a chest.

“Uh..Dream.. was he.. was he my friend?” Tommy exhaled loudly, scowling. No. 

Dream was not his friend. Dream was his enemy. 

But would an enemy have hung out with him so much? Would an enemy have laughed and smiled and shown emotional vulnerability to him? Would they? 

_ No.  _ Tommy clenched his fists. Dream.. Dream had just been trying to manipulate him. But it was fine. It was fine now, Tommy was free.

Or was he?

Tommy shook his head of the disturbing thoughts, willing himself to focus back on Phil and Ghostbur’s conversation. 

“What happened out there? Wilbur told me.. Wilbur told me Logstedshire is gone.. And that there’s a crater in the ground.” Tommy cringed. This was not dealing drugs. This was just making him think and answer awkward questions.

“Well.. ok. My.. my f- this guy, Dream.. He-he was uh.. something to me..he helped me at the time, and then I realized he wasn’t right for me.. or did I- I don't really like thinking about Dream- my brain goes all- uh- flippy floppy.” Tommy stammered out, desperate for an excuse to have to  _ not  _ talk about Dream. Unfortunately, Phil didn’t seem to get that.

“Well- we’ve tried to tell you from the start he wasn’t good for you, Tommy.” Tommy’s fists clenched around the dirt he was holding as he walked outside. 

Phil could not possibly be serious. If they didn’t think Dream was right for him, if they didn’t want Dream to hurt him, then why didn’t they help him? Protest when he was exiled? Help him fight back against Dream?

Tommy bit his lip. He couldn’t be getting mad about this stuff. Dream wanted him to doubt his friends. But he wouldn’t. Tommy knew he could take down Dream. 

He’d do it, no matter what it took. 

Luckily, Ghostbur changed the conversation slightly, though not at all in a way Tommy wanted. 

“Dream seems lovely! Tell me more about Dream!” Ghostbur cheerfully added. Tommy scoffed.

“Well, that's what my mother said about drug dealers, but look how much money I'm making now.” Tommy replied to Phil, deciding to ignore Ghostbur completely. There was nothing good about Dream. Nope. Nothing.

“Anyway, anyway..” Tommy took a drink from his soda as he turned around from his pacing in the snow to walk back towards Technoblade’s cabin. “As I was saying though, yeah.. He  _ kind of.. uh..  _ we had a bit of an argument, and now, i’m living somewhere else! I’m a free man! And… and I'm gonna edit my new home.” Tommy walked into the room with the villagers, who all started staring at him. He blinked in surprise as he realized they were no longer zombies, punching one on accident. He stared at it for a moment, before going to walk out. 

Ghostbur began to speak, but whatever he said was forgotten by Tommy the second he stared at the netherite helmet of a man wearing a pig mask. His heart sunk. 

Panicking, Tommy began to walk out the door, naturally, at the same minute Technoblade walked in. He veered away as to not hit shoulders with Technoblade, who he heard a mumbled, “what.” from. 

Going silent from panic, Tommy began to speed-walk around the house.

_ Well,  _ he thought casually.  _ I’m fucked.  _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two chapters in like one hour pogggg
> 
> i despise dialogue; it just never seems to feel right with me~
> 
> i'm most likely going to be taking direct quotes from streams but i'll also be adding dialogue. ill probably paraphrase stuff too. 
> 
> i also have literally no idea what direction im taking with this, idk if ill divert from canon or not~
> 
> also lets pretend that i did not just find out how to make italic stuff
> 
> thank you for reading!!!


	5. five

Tommy decided the world did not like him.

He held his communicator up to his mouth, panicking.

“sorryoneminuteITHINKIHAVETOGO-” He whisper-yelled, turning the device off before he could hear whatever Ghostbur tried to say. He threw it into his pocket, marching out into the snow.

He couldn’t even hear Technoblade behind him, which made it all the more unnerving. Tommy panicked as he curved in his walk to avoid a husk, before seeing a hole.

_ perfect!  _ He thought. The hole was probably deep and he could just dig down further if it wasn’t. Luckily, the tool he’d been holding when he’d been spotted was a shovel.

Tommy jumped into the hole, frowning when he realized it literally only made him go down to his torso. He looked down at the block below him. Stone.

_ Well, fuck.  _ Technoblade now stood in front of him, eyes unreadable from behind the mask and mouth pursed into a small frown. 

Tommy did not want that to be the last thing he saw.

“-ow do!” He exclaimed cheerfully, hopping out of the hole to just stand there. His voice cracked at the start from panic, and he resisted the urge to cringe as Technoblade just kinda.. Stared.

Technoblade began getting harassed by a skeleton and a husk, so Tommy took that moment to think about reddit instead of escaping. When he realized Techno wasn’t looking at him anymore, Tommy decided to go head towards the house.

He stopped, barely making it halfway before he felt himself being stared at again. He huffed, forgetting all about his fear and he turned around to stare back.

“Take a picture, it'll last longer.” He grumbled out when Technoblade went to go kill something. Techno quickly returned to stare back at him. Seriously, why was this guy just always staring?

_ I really hope he doesn’t mind me being here,  _ Tommy thought, taking out one of Technoblade’s stolen golden apples to eat while he stared at the owner of the aforementioned apple. Fear completely forgotten by the healing effects of the apple, he felt slightly more confident. He scrunched his nose up at the man who was still staring.

“You look ugly.” Tommy noted casually, before beginning to walk past Techno. 

“What are you doing in my house, Tommy?” Techno’s monotone voice asked, and Tommy stiffened slightly, trying to think of something to say.

‘Well… hello. How are you?” Tommy rushed out, beginning to walk towards the house again. This was fine. He was maybe-kinda-sorta might going to die, but he also was maybe-kinda-sorta  _ not  _ going to die.

“No- what are you doing in my house, Tommy?” The blood god walked behind him, questioning stiffly.

“How are you?” Tommy asked cheerfully, unable to think of literally anything else to say. This was bad. The maybe-kinda-sorta going to die possibilities were increasing. He heard Techno sigh behind him.

“What are you doing in mY HOUSE TOMMY?” Techno’s voice got louder at the end, and Tommy, finally feeling the annoyance and anger from the last week rush to his head along with the confidence from the apple, snapped. 

“yOU ARE A BITCH! That’s the way to lightly put it!” Tommy began walking towards the house again, and he heard Technoblade brandish his sword behind him. 

Tommy screamed and yelled “stOP IT!”

Tommy opened the doors to the house and slow-ran in, finding purchase on top of the crafting tables and chests. 

“Get out of my house! Why are you walking into my house-?” Techno yelled as he ran in after Tommy, shutting the doors behind him.

‘No, no, no, no, I can explain!” Tommy quickly realized he had no idea how the hell to explain this. He changed tracks quickly.

“You can’t kill me, so stop trying to act all  _ big  _ and  _ hard,  _ alright? You ain’t shit-” Tommy began, but he was interrupted.

‘I- I feel like I could- I think I really can kill you.” Technoblade pointed out crossly. 

_ Ah, shit. That didn’t work.  _

“Oh yeah?” Tommy questioned, still pretending like he wasn’t terrified and had a slight idea of what the hell he was doing. “Well I have- uh-” Tommy turned around to shuffle through the chests for something.

“You’re just taking my items!” Technoblade pointed out, while Tommy repeated himself, trying to find something. “It’s not what you have, it’s what I have!”

Tommy’s eyes lit up (haha pun) in delight when he saw a flint and steel, quickly grabbed it and lighting the floor under Technoblade on fire.

“Yeah, bitch! Eat fire!” Tommy laughed as Techno began trying to furiously put out the fire.

“Nono wait my house is made out of wood! My house is made out of wood!” Technoblade shouted, running in a small circle trying to put out the fire with his pickaxe while Tommy laughed, wondering why the hell he was scared of this idiot.

“Well,” Tommy began, walking away from the burning Technoblade to the door. “I say we call it  _ our  _ house.” Techno stared at him incredulously. Tommy turned towards the door, letting a zombie and a spider in.

“And these guy’s house as well!” Tommy smiled as Technoblade began getting attacked, yelling loudly.

“whY ARE YOU LETTING THEM IN!?” Tommy couldn’t help his laugh as he ignored the spider that was  _ still  _ attacking him.

“Oh yeah, who are these guys downstairs?” Tommy asked casually, climbing down the ladder.

“Oh, that’s my village.” Technoblade replied monotonously, completely forgetting about literally everything that was happening. 

“By the way- oh, my armor.” Tommy frowned as the armor on his legs broke. A smile split across his face as he reached into the chest next to him. “Nevermind, it’s fine, i found these in the closet!” He declared cheerfully as he put on a new pair of stolen armor.

“Bro- Tommy, give me back my pants-” Technoblade stared at him from behind the mask.

Tommy wondered why the hell Technoblade was indulging him. Couldn’t the man with the pig mask literally like, just kill him-? 

Tommy huffed. Techno obviously couldn’t because Tommy was too strong. What an idiot. 

“Dude- Tommy- give me back my stuff-” Tommy began loading up a stolen crossbow.

“No.” Tommy decided. Techno gave him a dead stare. 

“You really wanna do this right here?” Techno asked, and Tommy panicked again.

“Uh- no-” Tommy immediately began climbing down the ladder, and unfortunately, so did Techno because of his stupid villager dying to a zombie Tommy may or may not have let in. 

Tommy decided this was a good opportunity to escape to dnret, finding his pickaxe and mining the stone below him.

“Well, bye-bye now!” He said cheerfully, placing the stone back above him as Techno’s loud “HAH?” was cut off. He ran towards the corner where the entrance to dnret was, climbing down and placing the stone above him a second too late to escape Techno’s eyes. 

Tommy couldn’t help his smile as he listened to Techno scream about a zombie killing his villagers. He snickered. “What’s going on up there, huh? Sounds like someones having a rough dayyy!” 

His good mood was quickly soured as he heard Techno yell, “What the heck is this?” 

Looking over, surely enough, the block that had hidden dnret was now gone and a man with a pig mask was now climbing down. 

“Uh- no- you don’t have to come down here-” Tommy stammered out, panicking now. Before, he’d had the advantage that if Techno killed him, Tommy would still have hidden most of his stuff. But now, if Techno knew where the stuff was, he could just kill Tommy and take it all back.

“What the heck is this?” Techno began looking around, at the chests full of stolen items. This was awkward.

“Hey- no- look at this, don’t you see the sign, Technoblade?” Tommy pointed to the “ _ NO PUSSYS ALLOWED”  _ sign. He found himself laughing, once again, still too absolutely terrified to really understand what the hell was actually happening. He exhaled happily as Techno silently looked at him.

“I’m feeling so jolly, my friend! My other good friend, Dream- wait, was he my good friend? No, he wasn- but he kind of- No, no, this guy called Dream who, we were, uh- It was sort of a love hate relationship, you know, like,” Tommy paused, thinking of something to reference.

“Like, uh, Sam and Juliet from the hit show  _ Friends,  _ and basically, Technoblade, what ended up happening was- I- I just, uh..” This was going nowhere.

“I need my discs back.” He finished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just accidentally wrote 4000 words in one sitting so um oopsies
> 
> thank you for reading!!!


	6. six

Techno stared at him blankly for a second.

“That was not a good summary at all! Why are you living’ under my house like some kind of racoon!?” Techno gaped as Tommy opened his triple locks. “What the heck is this!?”

Techno began looking through the chests while Tommy played with the doors.

“-this is just all of my st- yOU TOOK A STACK OF EMERALD BLOCKS?” Techno began shuffling through his chests, and Tommy, being a genius, once again found a distraction.

“Hey- stop looking through my stuff- ay, ay, look at this! This’ll make you feel better!” Tommy took the lid off of the potion of slow falling and splashed it towards the ceiling, missing Technoblade terribly. Tommy did a little jump, laughing as he slowly fell. 

“Now we flow sall! Wait-” Tommy frowned and began to have a speaking crisis while Techno gaped again at Tommy casually using his rare items.

“Oh wait, that missed you? Here you go!” Tommy grabbed the second potion, splashing it on both of them.

“wait - no- that’s a slow fall! We have a limited stock of those!” Tommy ignored him and began to have another speaking crisis.

“Wait, can you say slow fall, and then flow sall? You mix them up!” Tommy pointed out cheerfully. Techno looked at him, looking as dead as ever.

“Well yeah, that’s the wrong sequence of words-” Tommy huffed.

“Well listen, dickhead, I ain’t no english major, i’m just some kid with a dream!” Techno gaped at him for the third time.

“Why are you going on the offensive? This is my house!” Tommy panicked mildly, jumping across his bed.

“Well look, you obviously need some sleep-”

“yOU HAVE A BED DOWN HERE?” Tommy casually began eating a golden apple as Techno continued trying to understand what the actual hell Tommy was doing. 

“What are you doing- why are you in my house-” Technoblade began again, but Tommy decided answering was lame. 

“Why are you in all netherite? Take it off, we’re at home!” Techno stared at him incredulously again.

“.. I’m always in all netherite!” Tommy huffed.

“Blehehennxhhejsndhehe- you sound like every man ever!” 

“I was just executed! I’m not in the mood for-”   
  


“...Come again?” Tommy blinked. Executed? Jesus christ, what the hell was happening to this server?

“Hey, wait, i’ll make your day better-” Tommy walked over to the Prime log, pointing at the sign. “Pretend this says channel member-!” Techno stared at the sign for a moment.

“Wait, is this the channel member sign- did you take the sign and put it down here!?” Tommy blinked.

“Well yeah, but this is the same log from my-! Oh yeah, I moved out, by the way. You know my old home? Yeah, I’m here now.” Techno glared at him.

“Yeah, I kinda noticed.”

“Oh, well, look at this!” Tommy began shoveling away the dirt on the wall and replaced it with stolen golden blocks. He decided it was a nice touch to the piss hole.

“Hey! It’s like an L for L’manburg, but it goes up the wall!” Tommy said cheerfully as Techno ran up the ladder to go see if his golden blocks were missing. 

“They’re gone!” He heard Tencho exclaim from upstairs as Tommy went up the ladder to the basement.

“Well, they’re not gone, but..” Tommy grumbled under his breath as he began placing the blocks again. 

Techno came back down. “You still haven’t explained why the hell you’re here.”

“Well..” Tommy mumbled. Technoblade began mining the gold off the wall. 

“Hey! Stop that!” Tommy yelled, running over and whacking Techno’s armor, which obviously, did nothing. 

“it’s literally my stuff!?” Techno shouted back at him. Tommy huffed. 

“It’s not if it’s in my hands, idiot!” Tommy spat back, but he quickly began panicking as Techno brandished his sword again.

“You know what? You’re so violent. It’s too violent. I don’t want to live with you if you’re so violent.” Techno scowled.

“I tried, Tommy! I tried not being violent and the-” Tommy interrupted him, placing his hands over his ears and beginning to yell about Theseus. Finally, tommy had enough.

“Hey, no, technoblade, you listen to me!” Tommy took his armor off, taking a second to stare at himself. “Oh hey, my eyes are bluer again!” He paused, remembering what he was talking about.

“No, Tommy, give me my stuff back!” Techno spat back, and Tommy sighed, This was going nowhere. He reached into the chest, grabbing a potion of harming.

“Look, you need to calm down, my friend.” Tommy splashed the potion, blinking in mild surprise when it did literally nothing. Techno stared at him for a few seconds, before yelling again, “That did nothing!” Tommy snickered.

“Now- now you listen to me. Okay, here’s what we do.” Tommy paused, staring at the floor. He had no idea what they were going to do. Techno wanted his items back, but Tommy needed items to beat Dream. Tommy scowled. Technoblade was just being selfish. He could totally get more of the same stuff! This was such a dumb arguement!

“Go away, actually.” Tommy huffed, glaring at Techno. “This is my room.” 

Techno gaped at him.

“This is my house!?!”

“Well this is my room, bruv!”

“You- you leave!”

“No.”

Tommy panicked, running over to his bed and getting in. “Goodnight!” He shut his eyes, hoping Technoblade would go away.

When he opened one to see if he left, a pig mask right in his face proved him wrong. He jumped up, standing in front of the bed.

“Okay, if it makes you feel better, I'll explain to you what happened.” Tommy decided. Techno sighed, rubbing his head, struggling to deal with the child.

“Alright, explain to me what happened.” 

“Okay- okay but, take that frown upside down, bruv!” Tommy said cheerfully.

Techno’s scowl deepened. “Explain. Now.”

“Mhm, okay, well, I was living, aLONE! You know? Kinda sad, kinda a- everyone was spamming L, everyone thought I was all sad and shit, but anyways, I was living with my friend Dream- maybe my friend? It’s all been a very confusing forty-eight hours. I was friends with Dream, then I wasn- was I ever really friends with that guy?” Tomy frowned.

“I don’t really know what happened- no, I remember, it’s just, emotionally- have you ever seen a zigzag, Technoblade?” Techno stared at him, looking more confused then he had before Tommy had “explained.” 

“It was like one of those, except for it was full of rainbows and dogshit. It was so confusing. And then, i've ended up- i realized, although, a-” Tommy scrunched his face up. “A.. friend, for a long time, and then I realized he’s bad, and I now hate him.” Tommy looked up, fiddling with his hands.

“..Yeah, that’s about it.” Tommy paused. Wait, that wasn’t it.

“But Dream has my discs.” He looked back up at Techno. “I’m kind of exiled, you see, I'm- I’m a little bit alone-” Techno snorted.

“You did all that work for your country and they exiled you.” Tommy scowled. Okay, that was mean.

“Ok, but then I realized, the source of all this conflict, of like, everything, is my discs. So I’m going to get them back.” Tommy sighed. “I was starting to work on getting them back, and then I went ‘hmm, what about stealing?’” Techno stared at him.

“You’re just going to mooch off me?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Tommy confirmed cheerfully. Techno opened his mouth to say something, but Tommy cut him off.

“By the way, these past- these past couple weeks have been very confusing with Dream, but, I haven’t lost my memory, I’m just- very emotionally confused- I do,  _ very strongly  _ remember what you did, Mr. shoot-literally-blow-up-tubbo-with-jschlatt’s-command!” Techno opened his mouth to interrupt, but Tommy continued.

“You see what that sign says? No pussys allowed. You know what you were that day?” Tommy crossed his arms. “A pussy.” Techno scoffed.

“That- that insult doesn’t even work there-”

“sO PLEASE LEAVE MY HOUSE-”

“Tommy, this is my hous-”

“Please leave my rOOOOM!”   
  


“Anyways, I basically need my discs back, but I don’t need your help, so goodbye!”

“Tommy, this is my house, there’s no goodbye.” Tommy scowled. Techno sighed.

“Alright, listen here Tommy. You want your discs back? Let me tell you something. They took everything from you. L’manburg? Those guys? They exiled you. They left you for dead. What-whatever Dream did to you happened. They took everything from you.” Tommy stiffened.

Techno continued. 

“And you know what, Tommy? They tried to take everything from me. They put Phil under house arrest, they stole Carl, they took all of my items- I’m thinking Tommy. There’s two things we can do here. You can leave; get out of my house, you can't stay here- Or.. we could team up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you can tell when i gave up on directly quoting the stream WHOOPS
> 
> thank you for reading!!!


	7. seven

_ What? _

Tommy blinked in surprise.

Techno.. Techno wanted to team up? To.. to destroy L’manburg? What?

Hadn’t Techno destroyed enough? 

Did Techno just want to tortue them forever?

An immediate refusal nearly came off of Tommy’s tongue. But then he thought about it.

Destroying L’manburg.. L’Manburg was just a place, right? It was just a place with a history of death and war, was it not?

If he were to, you know, team up with an anarchist and aim to destroy the place, then.. He wouldn’t be hurting Tubbo and the others directly.. would he?

L’Manburg was just a place.

Destroying it.. Wouldn’t mean anything.

They fought in the war for it because it was  _ peace.  _ It was a calm place for  _ them.  _

That had ended the moment the first blood was shed in the Caravan. 

L’Manburg meant nothing. It was just a name surrounded by madness, death, and betrayal. 

Destroying it.. Destroying it would free them from one more thing for Dream to manipulate them with. 

But what did Techno have to gain from L’Manburg’s destruction?

“.. Techno, you destroyed L’Manburg, right?”

“..uhh.. well , i mea-”

“You killed Tubbo, right?”

“Well, I have been known to do that..”

“So then what is it?” Tommy questioned, staring at the man with the pig mask. The pig mask stared back.

“..what..?” Tommy inhaled.

“What’s your motive? Why destroy L’Manburg?” Tommy frowned. “Is it your.. anarchist tendencies, because Tubbo’s president? But haven’t you put him through enough?” Tommy stiffened. “Do you just want to torture everyone? Didn’t you already destroy enough?”

Techno refused to look at him, and Tommy found himself surprised. He was about to speak on this, when Techno interrupted. 

“I destroyed L’Manburg because I didn’t want Schlatt to happen again.” Tommy narrows his eyes. He already knew this.

“But you said it wouldn’t, all of you did. You told me Schlatt and Wilbur were gone, that it wouldn’t happen again. But, it’s already happening, isn’t it?” Tommy blinked in surprise. What?

“Tubbo exiled you, just like Schlatt did, didn’t he?” Tommy nodded apprehensively. “When you were exiled, you were completely under Dream’s control. You were Dream’s little plaything. Just like Wilbur was.” Tommy was speechless.

“In the end, so is Tubbo. But as well as that, Tubbo is in charge now. He has a whole country to take care of. He’s going to drastic measures to meet that.” Techno stiffened.

“Do you know what they did today, Tommy? They tried to kill me. All four of them, including the president, decided to execute the retired guy and hold his horse hostage. IS that not messed up?” 

Tommy wanted to puke. 

Tubbo.. Tubbo, his best friend, had.. Executed someone? There was.. No way, right?

Right?

“Dream saved me, so now I owe him.” Techno sighed. “Dream is setting up all of his chess pieces to move perfectly when the time comes.” He finally turned to meet Tommy’s gaze, and Tommy imagined that his eyes were narrowed under the pig mask. 

“We act now, or we don’t ever.” He held out his hand for Tommy to shake.

Tommy stared at the hand outstretched to him. 

He.. wanted to take it. 

Tommy knew he was in no position to fight against Dream right now. Techno was currently his only chance at an ally. If he denied this, he’d have to start at nothing.

Tommy shook the hand. 

Techno grinned.

Somewhere else, a certain president stumbled upon a certain tower.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that awkward minute when you decide to make this fic canon divergent just cuz quoting the streams was too much work oospsies
> 
> that's it for my prewritten chapters
> 
> there's totally mistakes in these three chapters but i'm deceased so ill fix them after i sleep
> 
> thank you for reading!!!


	8. eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please check tags! tw: panic attacks in this chapter!!

Tommy had been sure that when he signed up for anarchy, it would be a lot more exciting.

He had no idea it meant hiding in his piss hole for most of the day, listening to Technoblade leave the house in the morning and come back at night, rarely coming down to see him.

Tommy understood that  _ yeah, Dream probably was pissed and going to find him,  _ but hey, you only live once, right? He had one life. Wouldn’t taking chances be better? No risk, no reward, right?

Apparently Techno didn’t see it that way, having told Tommy to stay in his basement or he would be forced to take..  _ measures. _

Tommy had no idea what the hell that meant.

He didn’t want to find out.

But.. being stuck under here was so undeniably  _ boring. _

On the first day, he’d thrown all of the eyes of ender and used all of the potions he had stolen already.

Techno was not happy. Needless to say, he had forbidden him from stealing and using all of his good shit, so now Tommy had nothing to do. 

It wasn’t  _ his  _ fault if he snook upstairs just to find something to do, right? It would be Techno’s, wouldn’t it? It wasn’t his fault no action was happening, and he was bored.

These thoughts occupied Tommy’s mind as he crept up the ladder, sure that Techno was not there. It was around two in the afternoon; Techno normally returned around five. 

Tommy stared at the villagers, who scrunched their noses at him from inside their boats. He stared right back, glaring at their ugly faces as he went to look through the chests behind them.

Tommy scoffed as he looked through them. There was literally nothing good in there anymore, all of the items from before missing. Techno must have hidden all of the valuables Tommy hadn’t taken yet.

_ Pussy.  _

Tommy shut the chest, turning around to climb the ladder again. He looked around the main floor, quickly heading back to the chests in the back. They were sure to have some good stuff in there, right? 

He looked through them, shifting around the items. Most were pretty useless or stuff he had already stolen. Tommy was beginning to give up hope when his eyes landed on something new.

Turtle eggs.

His eyes lit up. Those could be interesting! 

Tommy grabbed the two eggs out of the chest, taking them out of the wrapping they had been carefully placed in and dumped them haphazardly in the middle of the floor. He stared at them impatiently. He’d wait until they hatched, and then take them back down to his basement. 

Then he’d finally have something to do!

Unfortunately, the world did not like that plan.

The door opened, and Tommy’s head jerked up. His eyes met a pig mask.

_ Fuck. _

“Shit, wait-” Tommy stepped forward, but it was too late. Technoblade took one step forward, crushing one of the eggs. 

There was an awkward silence as Techno lifted his foot up, inspecting the shell, before turning to stare at Tommy soullessly. Tommy, naturally, panicked. 

“Aah! You just tramped a turtle!” He squealed out, jumping back. Techno gave him an exasperated glance.

“Why did you place a turtle egg in the middle of my house?” Techno snapped back at him. Tommy opened his mouth to begin screaming about how Techno was a turtle killer, but was quickly silenced by his next statement.

“Why are you up here, Tommy?” 

Tommy stiffened. Fuck. He’d forgotten about that. Oops.

“Um, well- you see-” Tommy began, stumbling for something to say.

Wait a minute, why was he explaining himself?

This was Techno’s fault. Why the hell did he have to stay in the basement? Even if Dream came, Tommy could easily hide in seconds. This was dumb.

“I don’t have to explain anything!” He huffed out, crossing his arms.

Techno glared, and Tommy continued.

“I mean- Dream wouldn’t- Dream won’t come here. If he did, couldn't you take him?” Tommy glared back. “Aren’t you supposed to be good at fighting, or some shit?”

Techno sighed, carefully picking up the egg from the floor and putting it back in the chest. 

The silence made Tommy feel like his heart would jump out of his chest. 

Finally, Techno spoke, staring at Tommy like he was explaining something to a small child.

“Tommy, we’re not in a position to fight Dream right now.” Tommy opened his mouth to say something, but Techno continued. 

“He has more allies than us. Tubbo? He can make Tubbo do anything. If he sees even a  _ glimpse  _ of you around here, we could have the entirety of L’Manburg and the SMP at our doorstep.” Tommy frowned at the floor. Techno was right, but he didn’t want to admit it.

“You want revenge on Dream, right?” Tommy blinked, staring up at Techno in surprise at the question. Once he realized Techno was waiting on a response, he nodded.

“You can’t get that if you're dead.” Techno said simply. Tommy frowned. 

“Then we should do something!” Tommy spat back, annoyance rising. “I have one, life- right? We need to be preparing! We- we should be setting something up right now! I can’t be- i can’t be hiding forever- Dream- Dream’ll find me soon-” 

Tommy didn’t know when his breathing had sped up and his chest had tightened, leaving him unable to breathe.

Suddenly, he was back at Logstedshire. 

_ Dream- Dream was there- standing over him with that mask, that stupid fucking mask, with its dumb smile. He stood there, axe in his right hand, explosives in the other, flaunting full netherite armour. A laugh escaped Dream's lips, filling the silent air with something so  _ **_menacing_ ** _.  _

_ “Put your stuff in the pit, Tommy.”  _

_ Tommy snarled at his captor, nearly shaking from rage.  _

_ “No- I- I won’t. I-” Tommy’s fruitless arguments were cut off by the swing of the axe. It came to rest right next to Tommy’s jugular, and he resisted the urge to scream. _

_ “Don’t disobey me, Tommy. I’m in control.” _

_ A sob escaped Tommy’s lips.  _

_ He was so useless, so stupid, so helpless-  _

_ He wanted Tubbo back.  _

Tommy didn’t know when he had dropped to his knees, but he felt someone.. hugging him. 

Tommy leaned into the hug, turning to sob into the chest of the man he saw as his enemy.

“It’s- it’s okay, Tommy. Dream won’t get you.”

He was so weak.

This- this was the man he’d hated, despised, the man who’d literally _spawned withers in his fucking country_.

And yet, here Tommy was, sobbing into his chest.

He was pathetic. That was a better word. 

“Hey- Tommy.” Tommy took a shuddering breath to stare back at Techno, who kept a hand on his shoulder and had moved his pig mask to the side. Tommy was slightly surprised to see red eyes staring back at him. 

“I understand. Dream’s pretty strong, I'll admit.” Techno stood up, but Tommy stayed on the ground, crouching slightly, too afraid to make eye contact, staring out the window behind Techno.

“But we have something too.” Tommy blinked, jerking to meet Techno’s eyes in surprise. He opened his mouth to question, but Techno stuck a hand out for him to pull him up.

He stared at Techno with questioning eyes, but received no answer as the other man re-adjusted his mask and gestured for Tommy to follow him as he opened the front door.

Tommy stared at Techno, unable to move. Why was Techno letting him go out? 

What was he planning?

“C’mon.” Techno grumbled gruffly, and Tommy hesitantly took a step forward.

He followed Techno into the snow, unable to stop his mind from racing.

What the hell happened earlier, and was.. was Techno taking him out here to kill him?

But why would he do that, Tommy wondered. Techno could just kill him in his house, couldn’t he? Why take him out here?

These questions spun around in Tommy’s mind as he and Techno walked silently. Soon, Techno turned, and they began walking up to a flat, stone hillside. Techno stopped, and so did Tommy as he blinked in surprise.

“You see, i’ve been working on something myself..” Techno mumbled, walking towards the hill and placing a lever. Tommy’s heart pounded with anxiety, and then, he couldn’t take it anymore. 

“You’re.. You’re not going to kill me.. are you..?” Tommy squeaked out, already regretting it as Techno turned to look at him, staring for a moment.

A chill raced down Tommy’s spine as Techno’s lips curled into something that looked like a smile but held none of the warmth that one should have entailed. 

“If I were to kill you, I would have done it a long time ago.” 

Tommy swallowed. That was reassuring and yet terrifying at the same time. 

He watched as Techno turned, flicking the lever.

The blocks began to move, clearing and separating until an entrance appeared, facing him with a sight Tommy could barely comprehend. 

“Welcome home, Theseus!” 

Techno’s gleeful villainous laughter almost felt like white noise to Tommy. Because, in that cave…

Hundreds of wither skulls stared at Tommy.

He screamed.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, that was a fun one
> 
> gotta love how this became a darker fic purely because i decided quoting streams was a pain
> 
> i wrote a very basic plotline, and it's not looking too happy, so that's perfect
> 
> i wrote this at 3am so it's probably a bit scuffed oopsies
> 
> thank you for reading!!


	9. nine

Tommy felt his heart pound as he followed Technoblade into the wither cave.

Hundreds of wither skulls stared back at him, unmoving faces forever frozen in soulless silence. It made Tommy want to scream, cry, and laugh all at the same time.

Looking at the skulls, he couldn’t help but feel almost a slight  _ thrill.  _

This would be bad for Dream; that was a positive, however Tommy couldn’t help but worry for L’Manburg.

Two withers had already done enough damage. 

How many would these do? 

“Techno- wait, look me in the eyes.” Tommy sped up to stand in front of Techno, still breathing heavily. “We’re- we’re just getting my discs back, alright?” Techno looked at him.

“Yeah Tommy, I know.” Techno smiled slightly. “We’re just getting your discs back, by any means necessary, okay?” 

“No no no no- not by any means ness- actually, I guess it would be any means necessary…” Techno turned to go close the entrance, and Tommy took a step towards him again.

“They- the people in L’Manburg, although they’ve wronged me- they’ve only done what they’ve done because of Wilbur and Dream- not because they chose to. We- we won’t upset L’Manburg. Or- or Tubbo.” Tommy cringed. “.. not too much, at least.”

Techno frowned and went to the back with the chests. “We’ll negotiate the finer details later, Tommy.” Tommy frowned. He needed those details now. 

He wouldn’t go through with it if it meant hurting Tubbo. 

Tommy understood the need for the withers, if only to intimidate Dream. That made sense. Using them against L’Manburg made less sense, but- it wouldn’t mean too much. Tubbo- and the rest, they could rebuild, in a different place, under different rules. 

He had no idea what he’d do if he didn’t have Tubbo. 

Tommy opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted as Techno had finished getting whatever he was getting.

“I have something for you, Tommy.” Tommy blinked in surprise. What? 

He hesitantly took a step forward, walking forward with more confidence when Techno didn’t move. He stared, surprised, when Techno held out full netherite armor. 

“Woah, what?” Tommy looked up at Techno, whose face was as rigid as ever.

“Here. You can’t always be in diamond, you know. Dream’ll kill you easily.” Tommy huffed at the last sentence but took the netherite happily. He put it on, and he couldn’t help his smile. 

The netherite felt so.. familiar. It was nice. 

“Thank you.” Tommy mumbled. Techno nodded, and began to head towards the exit.

Tommy followed, eyes glued to the floor instead of the heads that stared at him. 

Techno pressed the button, and the door opened. The two of them walked out, wrapped in a surprisingly comfortable silence until Tommy broke it.

“So how are we going to get my discs back?” He questioned, turning his head to look at Techno as he walked beside the masked man. Techno stared straight ahead.

”Well, the first thing we’re gonna need is weapons.” Techno noted, and Tommy cringed. 

“Well- We could do this peac-'' Tommy frowned, staring at the ground. Could they do this peacefully? His heart sunk, remembering when they’d tried to do things peacefully.

They’d drafted a contract of their own independent freedom with a wish for peace and had been handed a declaration of war. 

“... we can’t do this peacefully, can we..” Tommy mumbled. Techno turned to look at him.

“No, we can’t.” Techno tilted his head. “Haven’t I told you already, Tommy? The only universal language is violence.”

Tommy stopped in his tracks. His fists tightened, and he stared at the ground. His mind flashed back to the pit; to Tubbo’s fatal injuries; to Wilbur’s madness, and his heart sunk.

He wanted to argue, to rebut, to prove Technoblade  _ wrong,  _ but.. he couldn’t. 

His exile had been because of Tubbo becoming president. Tubbo had become president because Wilbur blew up L’Manburg and died. WIlbur died because Schlatt’s presidency and subsequent destruction of his home led to his insanity. Schlatt became president because of a selfish desire for power and a stupid election. The stupid election came from a country. 

The country came from a war. The war came from a small fight by a caravan.

Violence was the heart of everything, wasn’t it?

“You comin’?” Tommy looked to see Techno staring at him from ahead.

“Yeah.” Tommy mumbled. “Yeah, I am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dunno how to feel about this chapter 
> 
> i had a minor mental breakdown halfway through and stopped caring after so there's probably mistakes ooopsies
> 
> thank you for reading!!!
> 
> ps. i forgot what the letters for ps were and almost just wrote "r" for some reason  
> pss. why tf has the world decided "woah" and "unmoving" are not words what


	10. ten

Tommy shivered, grabbing the wood from the snowy floor and grabbing his axe back. The snowfall had stopped for a bit, but the arctic was still freezing. Watching Techno from his peripheral, he wondered how the hell the man was used to the cold. 

He sighed, beginning to walk out of the forest, back towards his house. Techno was beside him, grumbling about forests. Tommy stopped, surprised, when he noticed a certain half-enderman.

“Ranboo?” He managed to get out, starin. How the hell was Ranboo here?

His eyes drifted over to the excited ghost beside Ranboo, who was waving enthusiastically.

Tommy gaped. Was Ghostbur seriously that naive? 

He moved to take a step forward, but jumped when a hand appeared on his shoulder. Tommy looked at his right to see Technoblade beside him. 

“Go talk to Ghostbur.” The masked man grumbled out. Tommy attempted to question him, but never got the chance to as Techno moved forward and began to speak to Ranboo. 

The two began to walk around the back of the house, Ranboo casting a fearful glance towards Tommy as he was led away. 

Tommy swung his head to look away. Instead, he looked to speak with the ghost.

“Ghostbur, where have you been?” He frowned.

“Oh! Tommy! I was going to tell you that!” The ghost fiddled with his hands. “You see, it’s kind of a funny story.” Tommy stared, waiting for the ghost to continue.

After a worryingly long pause, Ghostbur continued.

“I lost the invites- I fell- in a cave-” Tommy’s mouth opened. What?

“You- you what?” Ghostbur flattened slightly, before popping back up.

“Yes! You see, it was pretty late, and these zombie villagers appeared! I tried to shoot them, but I ran out of arrows! Then I fell down a pit!” Tommy continued to stare in silence, the only thought spinning in his head being, “what the hell?”

“I got lost in there, and I was stuck! The invitations all fell with me, and I lost all of them! It wasn’t until T- Drea- Dream! found me and I was saved!” Ghostbur smiled. “Isn’t Dream so nice, Tommy? We should try to know him better-”

“What the hell? You got.. Stuck? Dream saved you?” Tommy gaped incredulously.

What motive did Dream have to save Ghostbur? 

This was worrying.

Ghostbur nodded, oblivious as ever. “Yep! And then- um- I went back to L’Manburg! Then, I was, wandering, um, around! And Technoblade found me! It was raining, so he let me into his house so that I didn’t burn.” Tommy blinked. This didn’t make sense.

“..Wandering around? Wh- what the hell does that mean?” Tommy narrowed his eyes. Techno’s house was a fair distance away from L’Manburg, so how the hell did Ghostbur even manage to get close enough for Techno to find him? Or, hell, why was Techno going so close to L’Manburg without him?

Hadn’t the pig-wannabe given that shit speech about how they couldn’t face Dream currently?

Why would he take the risk of going so close to L’Manburg then? 

Ghostbur cringed, panicking not-so-subtly. “Oh, just um- you know- i- um- oh! Did you know, Tommy, I’m homeless now!” 

“The fuck?” Tommy blurted out. That was… um, an extreme thing to say out of nowhere. 

“Yeah!” Now looking happier that he was less pressured to answer a hard question, Ghostbur looked happier. “I got a letter, right before I went back to L’Manburg, and it told me I was no longer allowed to live in the sewers! It was from the council!”

Tommy frowned. Tubbo wouldn’t do something like that. He narrowed his eyes.

Why was Ghostbur acting so.. Suspicious?

“Wait- Ghostbur, was it stamped?” Ghostbur went back to panicking. 

“Stamped? Uh, it-” Ghostbur was cut off by a gruff voice.

“It was.” Technoblade emerged from behind the house, a terrified looking Ranboo following behind him. Tommy turned to glare at Techno.

“How the hell would you know that?”

“He showed the letter to me.” Tommy clenched his fists. Tubbo would not have done this. Tubbo- Tubbo had been fine with Ghostbur, hadn’t he? 

“Can- can you show it to me?” Ghostbur jerked to look at him.

“No!” Tommy stared, surprised at the sudden outburst. Apparently, Techno was too, as he jerked his head towards the ghost as well. 

Ghostbur fidgeted, trying to find something to say. “I mean- I- I lost it! When I- fell! In the pit!” Tommy frowned. That made no sense. Ghostbur had said that he’d met Techno after the pit, hadn’t he? As well as that, hadn’t he said he got the letter after the pit? He opened his mouth to point this out, but Ghostbur interrupted him again. 

“What were you guys doing?” Ghostbur asked. 

“We were discussing how Ranbo is going to give me back my armor.” Techno said flatly, and behind him, Ranboo seemed to attempt to shrink into the ground as Techno casually mispronounced his name and threatened him.

“Um- yeah, I just need an ender chest.” Tommy scowled as everyone began to head inside. What the hell was happening? What was Ghostbur talking about? He followed after everyone else, leaving the doors open as he walked into the house.

“You know, when I pledged to get all my stuff back, I didn’t think it would be this easy.” Techno noted, and Ranboo cringed.

“Yeah- i’m- i’m a pushover.” Ranboo sighed as Techno laughed.

“You really are.” Tommy scowled at Techno, who looked, admittedly, cool in his armor. He huffed. 

“I still need a better sword.” He grumbled out. Techno glanced at him, before walking out the door. Tommy followed, and he heard Ranboo behind him.

“Then let's go get some wood.” Tommy grumbled out an okay, following after Techno as the man broke into a run. Tommy followed, and he still heard Ranboo behind him.

Honestly, why was that guy still here?

Tommy scowled as the three traveled in a silence that was so many words that it was shocking it was called silence. It was tense, awkward, and yet comfortable. 

Tommy didn’t like it. It was unnerving. 

They stopped at a forest that Techno deemed worthy, grumbling about having traveled all this way only to get the same type of wood in the end. Tommy didn’t really care as his mind drove into autopilot, focusing on cutting down trees.

He wondered what was up with Ghostbur. Why had the ghost spoken in contradictions? 

It made no sense. What reason did Ghostbur have to lie? 

Was he even lying?

Tommy frowned. Ghostbur had to be. Tubbo wouldn’t kick the ghost out of L’Manburg. 

He was sure of it. 

But then what had happened? 

Tommy scowled as he noticed Ranboo cutting down trees in his peripheral. What was the half-enderman even doing here? Ranboo had no information on any of Techno’s stuff or the eviction notice.   
Tommy’s fists tightened around the axe as he continued mindlessly chopping, thinking of Ranboo’s pity pickaxe. He scowled. He wanted to yell at the half enderman. He didn’t need Ranboo’s stupid pity. 

He scowled. He should have yelled at Ranboo earlier for that. 

“I think we have enough.” Techno’s gruff words made Tommy pause, and he shook himself out of his thoughts as he went to follow after Techno, Ranboo having already been there. They began their trek back.

Tommy had expected it to be another uncomfortable silence, but Techno proved him wrong, with the worst words possible.

“So, Ranbo, how do you feel about joining forces with me, and then.. Well, we’ll just mug you, actually.” Tommy whipped his head around to stare at Techno. The fuck?

Ranboo stopped his walking, before breaking into a run to catch up with Techno who hadn’t stopped. “Uh- uhm-”

“Hey- Technoblade- nononoonono-” Tommy mumbled out, running up beside the man, who gave him a side glance. 

“We need all the allies we can get, Tommy. Nobody will be with us when we attack Dream except for the people we recruit.” Tommy glared at him. 

“That’s not true! Tubbo, Niki, Fundy- they- they’d all help us! We don’t have to say anything to them!” 

Techno gave Tommy a look that chilled him to the bone.

“Fundy seemed more than happy to execute me.” Tommy almost choked. Fundy- Fundy had been one o the ones to execute him? He opened his mouth to interject, but Techno continued. 

“Tubbo isn’t on our side. He’ll succumb to Dream’s wishes easily. He doesn’t even care about you anymore.” Tommy was pissed now. 

“Tubbo- of course Tubbo cares! He- he still has my disc, and the compass, and- and-” Tommy scrambled for words. Tubbo was his friend. He trusted Tubbo. Tubbo wasn’t just Dream’s plaything. 

Techno saw otherwise.

“Really? ‘Cause I heard Tubbo got rid of his compass.” Tommy gaped. What? He spun around to look at Ranboo, who just stared at the ground, avoiding his eyes. 

“Who’s to say he hasn’t already given up your disc?” Tommy opened his mouth to yell, to argue, to prove Techno wrong, and.. found himself wordless. What could he say to that?

Techno quickly got distracted by the sight of an arctic fox, mentioning it, and Ranboo responded.

Tommy frowned, glaring at the ground as the two began to talk about the fox. 

Ignoring all that Techno had just revealed. being teamed with Ranboo would be awful. 

Technoblade was already not ideal. But at least he had the title of the Blood God- his power was well worth his stupid personality. 

Ranboo had an insufferable personality, pitied him, and was entirely useless in material. He was just average. He had no intel on the council, no idea of where any of Techno’s stuff was, and was average in combat. 

Tommy kicked a rock, annoyed as they neared the house.

They placed the wood in the chests, and they all grabbed beds as they headed for the nether portal. Tommy couldn’t help but feel slight apprehension; Dream was online; but he comforted himself in the thought that he had Technoblade with him.

Ranboo was there too, he supposed. 

He stiffened as they entered the nether, the sad cries of a ghast immediately making him stiffen. He followed after Technoblade silently, Ranboo following behind them, seemingly unnerved by the ghast.   
They went to the level to get netherite, and Tommy let Techno dig out a bit to go mine in, placing a bed down. The explosion made his ears pop and his body stiffen; explosions all too familiar to him. 

He cursed. He couldn’t be afraid of something as stupid as explosions. 

He frowned, digging out a bit before placing a bed down and exploding it. 

Tommy stared into the cave, noting some ancient debris near the top right. He began building a path to get to the block away from lava, when he noticed a red cloak swaying behind a figure as they entered the path Ranboo had gone down.

Tommy blinked. What was that about? Why was Techno going to see Ranboo again? He already had all of his armor, right? He frowned.

He was so confused about everything. Why was Ghostbur lying? Had Tubbo really evicted Ghostbur? If not, who else? Was Techno lying about the stamped letter? If so, why? Was Ranboo lying about not having any intel? Whose side was he on? 

Did Tubbo really get rid of his compass? 

Was Dream even his friend? Had the masked man only ever been a manipulator?

Tommy was only sure of one thing. 

He had no idea what the fuck was happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if this seems kinda rushed, that's cuz it is. it'is four am and i can't type anymore.
> 
> i'll edit it after i slep
> 
> thank you for rwading!!
> 
> (edit; changed the chapter title, i forgot how to count oops)
> 
> (edit 2; I added a few extra paragraphs to this chapter, because I forgot some things.)


	11. eleven

Ranboo wondered if humans bonded through violence.

He wondered if they found solace in threats; warmth in weapons; comfort in taking lives away from other people.

Every day seemed to give him more evidence for this theory. 

Ranboo had been outside of L’Manburg when he had noticed a yellow sweater disappearing behind some trees. He’d quickly run after the ghost, curiosity getting the best of him.

“Ghostbur?” He’d said. “Where are you going?”

Ghostbur flinched and turned to look at him. “Oh! Ranboo! I’m going to see Tec- I MEAN! Uh, technicians! Yep!” Ranboo blinked. Tec- Ghostbur had to have meant Technoblade, right? Ranboo bit his lip as he realized something. 

Tommy might be with the Blade. 

Ever since Tubbo had come back four days earlier with the knowledge that Tommy had been proclaimed dead, he had refused to believe it. When he’d visited Tommy, Tommy had seemed.. mostly fine, pardon the occasional breakdown. 

Tommy couldn’t be dead. He just couldn’t.

But, Ranboo wasn’t exactly on good terms with Techno. He cringed, remembering the failed execution. But, he knew he had to do this.

For Tubbo. 

Tubbo had locked himself away in his office, refusing to see anyone. Quackity, Fundy, Niki, and himself had all tried, but it wasn’t until the third day that Tubbo had finally let him in. 

TThe young president had been clutching a burnt compass in his hands. “I don’t- I don’t know what to do.” Tubbo had stumbled out, looking at him with eyes that just seemed so  _ tired _ . “What do I do, Ranboo?”

Ranboo didn’t have an answer.

He clenched his fists. The least he could for the young president was prove his best friend was alive. 

“Wait, Ghostbur,” Ghostbur, who had tried to continue walking away, looked at him again. “Please- take me with you.” Ghostbur looked taken aback. 

“Um- Ranboo, you’ll have to uh- find some other technicians-” Ranboo ran forward, gripping the ghost's cold, dead hand in his. 

“Please, Ghostbur. I need- I know Tommy is alive. I- I just want to talk to him.” Ghostbur still looked uncertain, so he added on a desperate, “ _ please. _ ”

Ghostbur conceded. “O-okay.” The ghost smiled. “I'm sure Tommy misses you! He’ll be happy to see you!” 

Ranboo cringed. He was pretty sure it would not go down that way. But instead, he nodded.

“Okay,” He said, quietly. He cleared his throat. “Okay.” He repeated, hoping he sounded more confident than he currently felt. 

Ghostbur nodded, and the two began to walk. 

  
  
  


__

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't like writing timeskips for some reason, I just,,, don't want to. so this and twelve, despite probably making more sense together will be done in two. once I finish the rest of this, at least. oopsies.
> 
> thank you for reading!!


	12. twelve

Ranboo felt awkward, standing outside Technoblade’s house. Ghostbur spoke happily beside him, but Ranboo couldn’t bring himself to listen.

Admittedly, he was nervous. Technoblade would probably kill him on sight. 

He still had three canon lives- he’d be okay if Technoblade killed him.. right?

Ranboo had no desire to find out.

A voice broke him out of his thoughts. 

“Ranboo?”

Ranboo spun around.

Sure enough, there was Tommy. 

He looked better than he had when Ranboo last saw him; admittedly, Tommy still had scrapes here and there, but he was now donning glittering netherite and his eyes had a shine in them that Ranboo hadn’t seen in forever.

He stepped forward, to say something,  _ anything,  _ but stopped when he saw Technoblade. 

His heart sank. 

A foolish part of him had hoped the Blood God wouldn’t be there. 

He cringed as Techno said something to Tommy, before walking up to him.

“Follow me.” The pig-masked man stated gruffly, and Ranboo blinked as Techno began to walk around the back of the house. Fear froze him into the snow. Techno glanced back at him when he noticed Ranboo wasn’t following. 

“Follow me, and I might not kill you.” 

Ranboo nearly tripped over his own legs trying to follow. He cast a wary glance back at Tommy, who quickly looked at the ground. Oh. 

He and Techno reached the back of the house, and he turned to face Techno. 

“So, um-” He began, but Ranboo was quickly cut off by a flash of netherite, and before he knew it, he was up against the wall with an axe to his neck. He yelped. 

“I’m gonna need one of my items back. For every five minutes you’re here.” Ranboo exhaled. That was doable. The butcher army members would probably be angry with him, but he’d never really felt like a part of them anyways. 

“I- I’m going to need an ender chest, then.” He stammered out, the axe against his throat making him uneasy. Luckily, Techno nodded. But he didn’t remove the axe. 

He opened his mouth to point this out, but Techno spoke before him.

“Why are you here?” 

Ranboo had not expected that question, as obvious as it seemed. He cringed. He didn’t really have a reason, other than for Tubbo. Techno.. Techno had to see that, right?

“Look- L’Manburg- they- they think Tommy’s dead.” Ranboo couldn’t tell if Techno was surprised by this, eyes hidden behind the mask and mouth unmoving. He continued. “Tubbo’s worried. I want to help him, if I can. If- if Tubbo knew tommy was alive, then he could-”

He was cut off.

“No.” 

He blinked in surprise. What?” “But-” Ranboo began, but he was cut off. 

“Tubbo isn’t on our side.” Ranboo gaped. “Tubbo is on the side of the government. The government has  _ always  _ been the source of our problems. We need to get rid of it.” Ranboo frowned. This- he had to be hearing this wrong, right?

“You can still have friends on other sides!” Ranboo stared at Technoblade in disbelief. “It- it doesn’t madde who’s on what side, because- without those sides, they’re still friends!” 

Ranboo hated the idea of sides. He’d seen so many friendships  _ torn apart  _ because of a silly notion such as  _ sides.  _ Why did everyone have to try and choose sides? Couldn’t they see that that wasn’t working? 

Why couldn’t everyone just be friends in peace?

Techno stared at him silently for a moment. “Are they really, though?” Ranboo stared at him. What was he talking about..?

“Would friends let treasured items get destroyed so carelessly?” Ranboo opened his mouth to point out that Tubbo had been  _ devastated  _ when the compass had been hurt, but Techno continued. “Would a friend call you selfish? Would a friend fall so easily to a higher power to hurt you? Would a friend leave you all alone, and never visit you?” 

Ranboo sputtered. “Wh- half of those happened because of Dream! If you guys want to take down anyone, do Dream! N-not your former allies!” 

“You only say that ‘cause Tubbo’s your friend.” Techno finally stepped back, removing his axe from near Ranboo’s neck to Techno’s side. “Tell me, Ranboo, if Dream was your friend, would you still act the same?” 

Ranboo didn’t have an answer to that. 

He didn’t know. 

This.. all came down to sides again, didn’t it? 

Ranboo didn’t know what side he was on. 

He said he didn’t want to choose a side. He wanted to just be friends with everyone. 

His heart sank. He was a hypocrite, wasn’t he? 

Techno sent one more glance at him. “Don’t try to run away, or i’ll kill you.” 

With that, Techno began to move around to the front. 

Ranboo followed behind him, wishing he hadn’t come. 

He appeared around the front with Techno, who said something that made Tommy stare at him incredulously. He drowned out their conversation, until he heard his name.

“-bo is going to give me back my armor.” Ranboo wished he could sink into the earth. He could tell Techno that his name was in fact  _ Ranboo,  _ but that didn’t seem too smart. 

“ Um- yeah, I just need an ender chest.” He managed to get out, despite feeling absolutely terrified. He wanted to talk to Tommy. He wanted to tell him that Tubbo was still his friend. That everyone in L’Manburg was still his ally. That they’d take down Dream together. 

The pig-masked man behind him prevented that, however. 

He followed Techno into the house, hearing Tommy behind them. He guessed Ghostbur was there too.

He was led to a chest. Placing his index finger on the lock, purple particles emitted from the opening before the chest opened. Ranboo grabbed the armour one at a time, handing them all to Techno. 

The butcher army was really going to hate him now. 

“You know, when I pledged to get all my stuff back, I didn’t think it would be this easy.” Techno noted, and Ranboo cringed.

“Yeah- i’m- i’m a pushover.” He sighed. That trait really seemed to be getting him into messes lately.

Techno laughed. “You really are.” 

Ranboo saw Tommy scowl in the corner, mumbling something about his sword. Ranboo’s heart twisted. He really needed to talk to Tommy.

Ranboo was shocked out of his staring by the noise of Techno stomping out the door. He spun around, seeing the axe in both his and Tommy’s hands. Ranboo cringed.

Clingy as it might be, he didn’t want to leave yet. So, he followed them. 

He saw Techno and Tommy begin to chop down trees, and so he did too. He kept glancing at Tommy from the corner of his eye, but Techno always seemed to be just  _ there,  _ appearing in Ranboo’s vision whenever the thought of sneaking up to Tommy and just saying  _ anything  _ about Tubbo. His heart sank. This was proving to be so much harder than he thought. 

But he had to do it. For Tubbo. Tommy- Tommy needed to know that Tubbo still missed him. That Tubbo was still his friend. 

“Say anything about Tubbo, and i’ll kill you.” Techno’s gruff voice appeared out of nowhere, and Ranboo spun around so fast he almost fell over. When he realized Techno was staring at him waiting for a response, he nodded hurriedly. 

There went that plan. Techno then quickly yelled for Tommy, and Ranboo found himself walking back in silence again. At least, that’s what he thought would happen. 

“So, Ranbo, how do you feel about joining forces with me, and then.. Well, we’ll just mug you, actually.” Ranboo nearly choked on his own spit. What? Ignoring that last part.. Huh!?!?

“Uh-uhm-” He stammered out, looking for what to say. If he said no, would Techno kill him? If he said yes, would Techno laugh and  _ then  _ kill him? Tommy then spoke. 

“Hey- Technoblade- nononoonono-” Ranboo cringed. He knew he and Tommy weren’t exactly the best of friends currently, but that still managed to hurt. Techno turned to look at Tommy. 

“We need all the allies we can get, Tommy. Nobody will be with us when we attack Dream except for the people we recruit.” Tommy glared at Techno, and Ranboo blinked in surprise. 

That wasn’t true. If they presented their case against Dream, Niki, Phil, and everyone else would definitely stand with them. Well, maybe not the members of the SMP, but still, everyone else outnumbered them greatly. 

“That’s not true! Tubbo, Niki, Fundy- they- they’d all help us! We don’t have to say anything to them!” Ranboo couldn’t help the relief that settled in his bones at the fact that Tommy still managed to believe in Tubbo. That was good.

“Fundy seemed more than happy to execute me.” Techno said stiffly, and Ranboo saw the surprise cross Tommy’s face. Ranboo cringed. He really hoped Techno wouldn’t use Ranboo as an example here too. 

Ranboo hadn’t been doing the best morally, lately. 

“Tubbo isn’t on our side. He’ll succumb to Dream’s wishes easily. He doesn’t even care about you anymore.” Ranboo felt his heart sink. Why was Ranboo so hellbent on his hatred of Tubbo? Why was he so determined to make Tommy hate Tubbo? 

“Tubbo- of course Tubbo cares! He- he still has my disc, and the compass, and- and-” Tommy spat back, and Ranboo cringed. He wanted to say something  _ so badly.  _ About how tubbo was tearing himself apart, about how Tubbo just wanted his friend back.

But he didn’t want to die.

Ranboo’s heart sank. He was a coward, wasn’t he?

A cowardly hypocrite. 

Techno still wasn’t done with Tommy, however. “Really? ‘Cause I heard Tubbo got rid of his compass.” Tommy spun around to look at Ranboo, and Ranboo couldn’t help himself. Techno turned to look at him as well, and in a panic, Ranboo jerked his head to stare at the ground.

He couldn’t look at Tommy and lie to him. 

He could lie if he looked away though, it seemed. 

Techno drove on. “Who’s to say he hasn’t already given up your disc?” Tommy opened his mouth, but then closed it. Ranboo’s heart sank. Tommy was already doubting Tubbo? This was bad. 

Techno then quickly switched topics, mentioned something about an arctic fox. Ranboo pointed out that he needed berries to tame it, and with Techno realizing he had none, that conversation ended. 

The three walked back, and Ranboo dumped his wood in the same chest Techno did. Techno then showed him a chest with beds and mentioned netherite, and Ranboo frowned. Why was Techno still keeping him around? 

He still followed them, unsure of what would happen if he didn’t. They all walked in silence, and he followed them without saying anything until they reached the level for netherite. Ranboo watched Tommy did his own cave, before Ranboo began digging his own.

He placed down a bed, and watched it explode. No ancient debris. Sighing, he began bridging across the newly formed cavern. He was about to place down another bed when he heard the swish of a cap behind him. SPinning around, he found himself face to face with Technoblade.

“Um- yes?” He stared at Techno, wondering what he wanted. 

“You can leave now.” Techno stated casually, and Ranboo blinked. 

“Uh- okay, do- do you want your beds back?” He stammered out, wondering why Techno was asking him to leave now, and not before they had gone to the nether.

Techno stared at him for a moment before answering. “No, I have enough.” WIth that, Techno placed his own bed down and began to mine in Ranboo’s cave. Ranboo quickly shuffled out. 

He didn’t want to be anywhere alone with Techno. Ever.

Ranboo cringed, sending one last looks towards Tommy’s cave. He hadn’t been able to tell Tommy anything. He stared at the floor as he walked towards the portal. His one chance, and he’d wasted it. He clenched his fists. Now, there was no way to-

Ghostbur. Ranboo blinked. That was it! 

If he asked Ranboo to say something to Tommy, he was sure the ghost would. After all, the ghost had been the only reason he’d been able to get there.

Filled with new determination, Ranboo found himself running. He got into the portal, and stepped out, running as fast as his long legs could carry him to get to Techno’s house. 

Luckily, Ghostbur was still there. The ghost looked up upon hearing Ranboo’s heavy breathing. “Oh! Hello, Ranboo!” The ghost leaned back to look behind Ranboo, and frowned. “Where’s Tommy?”

Ranboo blinked. “He’s- he’s still in the nether. Look, Ghostbur-” 

Ghostbur interrupted him. “Oh! I hope he’s still not upset with me…” 

Ranboo frowned. “Wait, what?” Ghostbur turned to look at him from where the ghost was standing in front of Techno’s front doors. 

“I got a letter! From L’Manburg, and it said I was evicted! From the sewers!” Ghostbur frowned. “Techno told me to tell Tommy, and then he told me that if I told Tommy it was stamped, Tommy would be happy!” Ghostbur then sighed. “But instead, Tommy got upset with me.” 

Ranboo stared. What? Techno had asked Ghostbur to… lie? 

Ranboo knew that they hadn’t evicted Ghostbur. Tubbo- Tubbo had been completely fine with the ghost living in the sewers. So why, why had Techno asked Ghostbur to lie?

Ranboo’s heart plummeted.

Something fishy was going on. He needed to get back to Tommy,  _ now.  _

Not even saying goodbye to Ghostbur, Ranboo spun around and began to sprint towards the portal again. This, and everything else Techno had said- It- it didn’t sit right with Ranboo. Tommy was in danger. He was sure of it. 

Ranboo saw a faint purple glow in the distance, when he heard a  _ whoosh _ .

He felt a sharp tip against his neck, and his legs skidded to a stop to stop the sword from slitting his throat.

“Sorry, but i’m going to have to stop you right there.” Ranboo looked up.

A smiley faced mask stared back.

Ranboo’s heart dropped.

__

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2336 words pls i hate everything this was not mean to be this long 
> 
> i can't really write angst or fluff, honestly everything just ends up being,,, just there
> 
> at least i don't think i can, maybe ill try some day
> 
> i kinda wanna start a fic to just dump drabbles on whenever i feel like it after this, i might honestly
> 
> thank you for reading!!!


	13. thirteen

Tommy’s mind ran in circles as he laid on his bed, unable to sleep. 

He didn’t know what to think, of what Techno had said, of what Ranboo had said, or rather what Ranboo  _ hadn’t  _ said. His mind spun endlessly with questions, all remaining unanswered.

He wondered why Ranboo had come to visit him; why he had taken all that risk, only to say nothing. Techno could have easily killed him, and the members who had tried to execute Techno could easily do the same. So why risk it? 

The visit from the half enderman had left Tommy with none of the answers he needed and more questions he didn’t want. It was infuriating, made no sense, and was all around stupid. 

Why couldn’t anyone just give him the answers he needed? 

Scowling, Tommy lept up from his bed, stretching his arms as he stared around the pisshole. He sighed, going over to climb up the ladder. 

Surprisingly enough, after climbing up ladders to the main floor, he’d found Technoblade there, bent over a table.

Tommy frowned as he went to go see what Techno was doing. “What’re you doing, dickhead?” The pig-masked man didn’t even bother to look up.

“Sharpening swords.” Tommy scoffed. That sounded boring. He scowled, leaning back against a wall in the room. Techno continued sharpening the sword, filling the air with clangs and gritting sounds that made Tommy want to cover his ears. 

Tommy wanted to be out there. He wanted to go and do  _ something.  _ He had no idea what Dream was up to while he was stuck inside, doing absolutely nothing. A sprout of worry for Tubbo was also burning a hole in his chest; Ranboo’s silence and Ghostbur’s eviction speaking of worrying proof that all was not right in L’Manburg. 

Tommy’s leg began to shake nervously as he stared at Techno, hoping if maybe he stared hard enough a hole would appear in his head and his brains would leak out. That would be kind of funny. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. 

Sinking further on his position leaning against the wall, Tommy crossed his arms as he slid to sit on the ground. He blew raspberries with his mouth hoping to annoy Techno, and when that didn’t work, he resorted to banging his head against the wall repeatedly. 

When that didn’t work, (and his head began to ache) he began tapping his fingers against the ground. 

Finally, Techno noticed. “What are you doing?” Tommy looked up to see Techno turned around in his seat, glaring at him from behind his mask. Tommy scowled, crossing his arms and scowling.

“I’m bored.” He noted. Techno stared back at him, speaking before turning around and going back to work.

“Get unbored, then.” Tommy scoffed.

“I would be, if-” He began grumbling under his breath, but then stopped. He had been going to say if they’d actually been  _ doing  _ something, but then he’d get a speech about how “ohh we aren’t ready dream will just destroy us oopsies time to hide out forever!!!!” 

Unfortunately, his grumbles didn’t escape the other person’s insane hearing. Techno stayed silent for another moment, not resuming to sharpening his swords but just  _ sitting  _ there. 

It was unnerving. Tommy didn’t like it. He got up to move, heading towards the ladder to go back downstairs.

“Wait.” Tommy blinked, turning around from where he’d been lifting the hatch. Techno stared at him silently for another moment, before getting up and beginning to walk towards his chests. Tommy frowned as Techno began to shuffle through one that had been deemed potions. 

Tommy walked forward, blinking when he saw two blue-ish potions in Techno’s hand.  _ Invisibility potions?  _ How was that useful? 

Techno turned to stare at him. “Go get your sword. We’re going out.” Tommy gaped at him in surprise. When Techno didn’t make a move to say anything else and went back to the chest, Tommy found himself running towards the trapdoor to get his sword. 

Tommy wondered what Techno had planned. Techno normally kept him inside, only letting Tommy go out whenever Techno was beside him. Even then, it was only to go gather wood or go mining, neither of which really needed a sword  _ or  _ invisibility potions.

He grabbed his sword, attaching it to the belt he had picked up in his exile. Tommy sprinted back up the ladder. When he came back up, Techno was now holding a sword and Tommy could see glass bottles tucked in his cape. Techno turned to face him.

“Drink this.” Tommy’s hands fumbled as he dove forward to grab the invisibility potion that Techno threw. Luckily, he caught it. He took out the cork, glancing up when he saw Techno already heading towards the door. 

He cursed under his breath, chugging the potion and throwing the empty bottle carelessly aside. Tommy ran to follow after Tehcno, who was already out and walking in the snow. 

“So,” Tommy breathed heavily, tired from having just sprinted. “Where’re we going, pal?” He looked up at Techno, didn’t answer him, only continuing to walk silently. Tommy scowled. 

He stared at the ground as he walked by Techno in silence. The silence was unnerving, but Tommy decided he’d rather not try and start a conversation with Techno. If it even did work, he really didn’t want to hear more about what Tubbo had done. 

It wasn’t until after walking for a while that Tommy began to recognize the path they were heading on. He froze.

This was the path to L’Manburg. 

His heart sank. He couldn’t- he couldn’t go to L’Manburg, Dream would  _ kill  _ him. Panic surging through his bones, he ran up after Techno. 

“Hey-hey wait, we can’t- i’m not- I can’t go to L’Manburg, Techno.” He managed to stumble out, staring at Techno, who hadn’t even bothered to stop or look at him. 

“You’ll be fine.” Techno stated casually, and Tommy couldn’t help the anger that boiled in his stomach amongst all of the fear. He was  _ not  _ about to lose his last life all because Techno wanted to go for a stroll in L’Manburg.

“No, I fucking won’t!” He spat out, running up to Techno and grabbing the sleeve of his red cloak. Techno finally stopped to look at him, or rather where he would have been. “Dream- Dream can kill me easily! Even if it’s not him, one of his little fucking minions will do it! I can’t- i’m not going to L’Manburg!” Tommy glared at Techno, and his form flickered for a moment before Tommy realized he could look down at his hands again. He was visible. 

Techno stared at him silently for a moment. “Do you think i’m weak, Tommy?” Tommy blinked in surprise, not expecting to get a question like that back. He stumbled for an answer, eventually just deciding to shake his head. Techno continued. 

“I can beat Dream. I’ve done it before.” Techno stated. “Everyone else is easy to fight,  _ if  _ they even manage to see us.” Tommy frowned. Had he been overreacting? 

Techno continued. “I’ve got a plan, don’t worry. We’re allies, currently, right?” Tommy nodded shakily. Maybe he had overreacted. He was invisible, and Techno wasn’t called the Blood God for nothing. 

“You’ll be fine, as long as you stay by my side and tell me when your potion is wearing off.” Techno added, reaching into his cloak to pull out another potion. Tommy nodded, shaky hands taking the potion into his own and drinking it. He discarded it in the snow.

Techno began to walk again, and Tommy followed behind him. 

He really hoped this wasn’t going to be a disaster. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you notice the final amount of chapters changing, no you didn't. 
> 
> doing long chapters is tiring for me so i just decided to split them up, considering i wrote just this over like three days um oopsies
> 
> also, i consider the line "what're you doing dickhead" to be the peak of my existence. please don't ask why. 
> 
> thank you for reading!!!


	14. fourteen

It was totally a disaster. 

They’d heard someone shuffling around near them, after only being there for about thirty seconds. Tommy, naturally, was a genius, so he befriended a llama, named it Clarencio, and dumped it in the plaza. Clarencio then spat at both Techno and Tommy. 

Clarencio would make a fine attack llama, if he wasn’t so busy trying to commit murder on his owners.

Tommy had run away, trying not to scream at the spit that was now all over his face, while Techno just stared at the llama, no hint of emotion on his face. It wasn’t until Tommy was by his house, staring at the ugly polished granite, that he finally calmed down, and realized,  _ holy shit, i’m back in L’Manburg. _

A laugh escaped his lips, which he quickly stifled behind his hand. He looked around, awe dancing in his eyes as he stared at the festive decorations all around him.

L’Manburg looked beautiful. 

A scowl appeared on his face. Of fucking course this would happen after he got exiled. 

When he’d been in L’Manburg, it had all gone to shit. Between being exploded, bombed, harassed by withers, and exploded by creepers a million too many times, L’Manburg had seemed it would always have an aura of death and despair about it. 

But now, as Tommy looked around, he didn’t feel that despair. It didn’t feel like there was a looming, dark, presence overshadowing everything; it felt almost  _ hopeful,  _ like the clouds were finally beginning to leave and the sun had come to encapsulate the country with hope for the future. 

Tommy’s heart sank. Was he really that much of a problem? Had his own naivete and lack of care for his own actions been the catalyst for all that had happened? 

_ No,  _ his heart screamed. It hadn’t just been him. Wilbur had been there too. Wilbur had blown up L’Manburg. WIlbur had caused everything, from the country’s birth to its destruction. 

But now, as Ghostbur, wasn’t Wilbur looking to become a better person? Wasn’t Ghostbur trying to apologize for his actions, trying to become a person that could outshine all of his past misdeeds?

What was Tommy doing? His eyes glanced over to Techno, who was still glaring emotionlessly at the llama. 

_ Right. Allying with the war criminal who had also betrayed him and his nation.  _

Tommy dug his nails into his palms. He wasn’t- he wasn’t doing it for himself. He was doing it for Tubbo, he thought, and everyone else who was stuck in L’Manburg.

He exhaled loudly.  _ Right,  _ he thought.  _ It doesn’t matter how strong that fucking hope is. It’ll always be destroyed. By Dream, by Wilbur, by Techno.  _

So if they had less to hope for, less to lose, then they had less of a cause for despair. 

It was better to kill those sparks of hope before they ever got the chance to flourish, right? 

Tommy hoped that the more times he told himself that, the more he would actually believe it. 

Tommy bit his lip as he turned away from his house. He really wanted to fix it now, but he couldn’t. Someone would know that he’d been here, seeing as nobody else would even bother to fix his house. 

Tommy was slapped out of his thinking by an all too familiar smell.

He spun around. Why was the air reeking of  _ smoke? _

_ And why the hell did it kind of smell like chinese food? _

Tommy looked around warily. He noticed Techno approaching him from the corner of his eye.

Tommy knew that it was basically impossible for Techno to have not smelled the smoke. Sure enough, the pig-masked man looked around as well.

That was when Tommy saw it.

Smoke was coming out of the half deconstructed white house, disappearing as it melted into the sky.

Tommy froze. He knew they were trying to stay silent.

But what if it was a fire?

They were going to destroy L’Manburg. Tommy was sure of that. No matter what.

But they weren’t going to hurt Tubbo. 

A fire didn’t know that.

Techno, noticing what Tommy was thinking, turned over to grab his shoulder, but he was too late.

Tommy bolted towards the remains of The White House. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> isn't the christmas festival today?
> 
> i might actually watch something important live for once- with the blowing up last time i didn't watch the entire thing, i just read a summary and watched clips-
> 
> i normally don't watch people live, cuz i don't like twitch, so normally i just watch techno for like five minutes then cease to exist, but i may tolerate twitch so i can watch ranboo
> 
> (also wtf is happening with carson im so sad he was like legit one of my favorite youtubers but i guess not anymore)
> 
> thank you for reading!!!


	15. fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for murder/death the entire chapter, and minor gore in the last paragraph <3

Tommy didn’t stop running, grabbing the ladders on the white house’s exterior, sprinting up them, ignoring the way his hands began to burn. He didn’t stop until he was at the top, diving behind some crafting tables.

That was when he heard it.

A crackle of fire. Then, a whisper.

“It won’t be long now, Schlatt.”

Tommy froze.

That was Quackity’s voice. 

What the fuck? He spun around, forgetting that he was  _ not  _ supposed to be in L’Manburg, and opened his mouth to yell, when a hand was slapped over his mouth. Tommy jerked his head to the side, where Techno narrowed his eyes at him. But it was too late. 

“Huh? Who the fuck’s there?” Tommy’s eyes widened and he felt ready to puke as he heard Quackity’s steps nearing them. Frozen with fear, he found himself unable to move. 

“Technoblade? Why the fuck are you here? Did you not get enough from killing me?” Quackity spat out, voice quickly rising in anger. Tommy cringed, hoping that the if-I-can't-see-you-you-can’t-see-me thing would become true. Unfortunately, it didn’t.

“Tommy?” Tommy swallowed harshly, slowly spinning around and standing up, putting his hands in the air in surrender.

“...surprise?” Fuck. This was awkward. 

Tommy heard a shuffle of fabric as Techno stood up behind him.

“What the fuck? Tommy- you’re, you’re exiled- why the fuck are either of you here?” Quackity was shouting at this point. Tommy found himself cringing further. If they woke anyone up, they were totally fucked. 

“That- that doesn’t matter- why- why the hell were you talking about Schlatt?” Tommy sputtered out, hoping to distract Quackity. A flash of panic went across his face, but it was quickly covered up by more anger.

“That’s none of your business.” Quackity stepped back towards his fire, which Tommy could now see was a burning picture of Schlatt, some flowers, and a lot of wood. What the fuck?

Quackity laughed. “I’m sure Dream will have a fucking field day when I tell him you’ve returned from exile! I’ll love watching you get  _ killed. _ ” Tommy flinched, but Techno quickly interjected with an attempt at distraction.

“What’re you doing with Schlatt?” Quackity scowled when Techno spoke, but Techno continued. “You know, you need to tell me, seein’ as he’s kinda pro-government.”

Quackity scoffed. “Yeah, you and your ‘oh, i’m technoblade!! government bad!!’ fucking act. You know what, Technoblade?” Quackity gripped at something in his hand. “You really fucking piss me off.” His stance shifted, and Tommy felt his skin prickle as he spotted the familiar glint of netherite in the duck hybrid’s hand. 

Quackity grinned. “No hard feelings, right? I would’ve killed you eventually.” Before Tommy can say anything, before he can move, before he can even get a chance to _think,_ Quackity is  _ moving and everything is going so fast and he has no idea what’s happening until- _

A blob of color flashes before his eyes, but before that blob can become recognizable to him, it’s struck down by a flash of something that looks almost purple. Tommy shuts his eyes.

Nothing happens. 

He opens them hesitantly, and instantly wishes he hadn’t.

Lying on the ground before him, is Quackity, a netherite pickaxe embedded in his neck as he bleeds out on the floor. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3
> 
> thank you for reading!!!

**Author's Note:**

> okay!! this is my first work, here's what i needed to say~
> 
> 1\. if anyone involved in this fic says they're uncomfortable with this i'll delete it~!!  
> 2\. I have no idea what i'm doing, so if i screw up something (that wasn't in my canon-divergence) feel free to tell me!  
> 3\. updates will probably be super sporadic as i never know what im doing~  
> 4\. title will probably be changed soon- i legit could not find one but i was listening to a danganronpa-fixer thing and went "yeah ok"  
> 5\. please check the tags, as they are updated regularly, and i don't want to hurt anyone  
> that's it, thank you for reading!!


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